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Strategies for Any Novel
©2009 Nancy Polette
1. The Boat Thief by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Hyperion ©2008
Robert Small, a slave steals a Confederate gunboat and takes slaves to freedom in the North.
Guess the answers these questions about the Confederate gunboat, The Planter.
A. How long was the boat in feet?
B. How many sails did the boat have?
C. How many troops could the boat carry?
D. How many cannons did it have?
Go to Alta Vista
“Civil war gunboats” and host: edu 75
“Civil war gunboats” and host: gov 51
“Civil war gunboats” and host: org 6
2. Introducing Literary Style
A. Choose one: the sea, the waves, the shore.
B. Tell what it reminds you of.
The sea is a huge washtub
C. What does it do that a person does?
(one word that ends in ing)
The sea is a huge washtub scrubbing
D. Tell how or where.
The sea is a huge washtub scrubbing the coral clean.
3. A Mystery for Thoreau by Kinn Platt. FSG ©2008
A young reporter, a vanishing lady, a gruesome murder and Thoreau put Concord in an uproar.
Anticipation Guide:
Students complete 10 value statements before reading and re-examine their choices after reading.
See 300 Novel Anticipation Guides www.lu.com
OR go to Thoreau quotes on the internet and create a fable that illustrates one of the quotes.
4. In the Shadow of the Pali by Lisa Cindrich. Penguin ©2002
12 year old Lili is condemned to Molokai to die there as a leper.
Share the first paragraph of the first three chapters, then read about these role models
who could give Lili courage at www.rolemodel.net.
Choose one. Write 10 facts (clues)
Ask a classmate to give a number between 1-10. Read the clue. The game continues until the person is guessed.
5. Group-read a scene from The Golden Rat by Don Wullfson. Bloomsbury, ©2008.
Brainstorm: What can Ba-o-liu do to prove his innocence?
Re-write these sentences. Keep the same meaning but do no use any word that contains the letter 'E'.
A. The boy resented his father’s new wife.
B. The new wife wore his dead mother’s clothing.
C. How could the boy prove his innocence.
6. Beyond the Western Sea by Avi. Harper ©1997.
It is 1851. An Irish mother and her two children see their home burned and their land devastated by famine.
Their only choice for survival is to attempt to join the children’s father in America.
Was escaping from home really the best idea?
Introduce with concert reading pages 25-26.
Four moods; happy, sad, scary, quiet.
Good source of music: movie sound tracks.
Listener roles:
Summarizer: Summarize in 3 sentences.
Word Smith: Identify literary devices ie., similes, metaphors, repetition, etc.
Connector: How is this like other books, movies or real life situations?
Reader Response Products
A. Summarize the novel using the Acrostic.
B. Write a riddle report about one of the settings in the story, Killony, London, Cork or Liverpool.
Begin your report with:
Let’s go to long ago places and see the Earth’s changing faces.
(List six to eight additional sights.) Where am I?
C. Write a five senses poem describing London at night.
London is the color of ______
It sounds like_____________
It smells like _____________
It tastes like ______________
It looks like ______________
It made ______ feel like ______
7. Vocabulary
A. See: On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck Viking, ©2008.
Each word below belongs in one of the five categories.
Place the category number before each word to show where it belongs.
Guess if you do not know.
Categories: 1. people 2.places 3. equipment 4. Aircraft 5. Defense or offense strategy
| ___ Convoy | ___ Axis | ___ Blitzkrieg | ___ Spitfires |
| ___ RAF | ___ Coventry | ___ Dorniers | ___ Lorries |
| ___ Allies | ___ Blenheim | ___ Stukas | ___ Radar |
| ___ Jerry | ___ Luftwaffe | ___ Incendiaries | ___ Blackout |
C. Writing Challenge: Use all of the above words to describe a supermarket or a garden,
or the freeway at rush hour, or another topic unrelated to war.
8. The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry. HM ©2008
Use one word to describe a classic character or setting.
| affable | auspicious | loquacious | melancholy |
| cryptic | misanthrope | ignominious | odious |
| irascible | lugubrious | nefarious | meticulous |
| ignominious | obsequious | unkempt | pathetic |
9. Magic! The Bronze Pen by Zilpha Snyder. Atheneum, 2008.
If what the bronze pen writes comes true, is it a gift or a curse?
1. Having a conversation with an animal is amazing but having a conversation with _______ is astounding!
2. Finding a dragon under your bed is amazing but finding a _________under your bed is
10. The Floating Circus by Tracie Zimmer. Bloomsbury, ©2008.
Owen, an orphan, faces mauling lions, a brush with plague and the menace of slave catchers in
his new life aboard a traveling, floating circus. A great read aloud!
Read about four famous women circus performers in Women Daredevils by Julie Cummins. HM ©2008
Rank order the job you would prefer from first to last.
a) Being shot from a cannon
b) Bareback rider
c) Loop the loop in a car
d) Wild animal trainer
Listen to the stories of each. Does this change your ranking?
11. Problem Solving: In The Perfect Hamburger by Alexander McCall Smith. Bloomsbury, 2008.
A snazzy fast food chain moves into town threatening closure of old Mr. Borthwicks tiny hamburger diner.
How can he save his business?
| Ideas | Fast | Low Cost | Legal | Will Work | Total |
| _________________ | _____ | _____ | _____ | _____ | _____ |
| _________________ | _____ | _____ | _____ | _____ | _____ |
| _________________ | _____ | _____ | _____ | _____ | _____ |
| _________________ | _____ | _____ | _____ | _____ | _____ |
| _________________ | _____ | _____ | _____ | _____ | _____ |
| _________________ | _____ | _____ | _____ | _____ | _____ |
Research the nutritional value of an onion. Use the information in the pattern that follows.
ODE TO AN ONION
I am _______ I am clothed _____
My greatest need ____My job is ______
Within my layers are_______ I vacation________
My greatest desire ________. I am _______
12. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies by Laura Amy Schlitz. Candlewick, ©2007.
19 monologues, 2 dialogues to perform.
Share the speech of Thomas, the doctor’s son.
Be a Middle Ages physician. Take the interactive quiz to decide which treatment you would
prescribe for a variety of patients.
See www.learner.org/interactives/health/middleages.org
Research ballads of the Middle Ages.
Write a ballad to be sung by one of the characters
13. Jack Bolt and the Highwayman’s Hideout by Richard Hamilton.
Create an artifact quiz using artifacts from one era.
See What Is This Thing? by Nancy Polette.
14. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. Scholastic, 2007.
N2:
Sit back in your seat. The lights are about to go out.
N1 & N2: 5-4-3-2-1.
N1: On the screen you see people rushing through a Paris train station.
N2: You see them glancing at clocks that line the hallways
N1: not aware it is twelve year old Hugo Cabret
H: who keeps the clocks running.
N2: Look at the toy booth. An old man
OM: with eyes searching every corner of the station, sharp eyes searching for a thief!
N1: Hugo Cabret is an orphan cared for by his drunken uncle who minds the clocks in the train station.
N2: The uncle disappears.
N1: Frightened he will be discovered and taken to an orphanage Hugo
H: hides out in the upper reaches of the station tending to the clocks and collecting
lost coins and stealing food and toys to survive.
N2: Did you say TOYS?
N1: Yes, It seems that Hugo
H: needs the gears in the toys to repair a mysterious robot,
N1: left to him with a notebook of drawings by his deceased father
N2: But listen, a shout. It comes from the toymaker’s booth.
OM: “Thief, thief! Catch that brat!”
N2: and Hugo’s secret world
H: is turned upside-down as the toymaker
OM: snatches the boy and tears the notebook from his hands.
N1: Hugo
H: watches in horror as the drawings needed to complete the robot disappear.
N2: The old man stares at the boy and thinks
OM: Let me see. Will it be jail? The workhouse? Or is there another way to use the
talents of this young thief? All To discover Hugo’s fate read The Invention of Hugo Cabret.
You’ll be glad you did!
Re-write each sentence keeping the same meaning but do not use any word that contains the letter A.
1. She wrapped Hugo’s hand in a bandage.
2. The audience screamed and fainted.
15.Puns: See Nose Drops and other books by Larry Shles
Go to: www.hootsandtoots.com
RESOURCES
Available from from Pieces of Learning
Strategies for Any Novel
The Best of Nancy Polette
Research Project Book
Biography By Golly!
Research Without Copying
What Is This Thing?
Research Reports to Knock Your Teacher’s Socks Off
Available from from Libraries Unlimited
300 Novel Anticipation Guides
Proofing and Spoofing the Classics
Exploring Books with Gifted Children
Books Every Child Should Know
Get Up and Move with NonFiction
Wild and Wacky Research Projects
Reading the Fifty States
Whose Tale Is True: Reader’s Theatre of Am. Women
Thinking Skills with Fairy Tales
Thinking Skills with Picture Books